Caribou/7mag/162 Amax?

[MudRunner2005]

Lake City is still in operation.

The United States Army | Joint Munitions Command

I was told they were shutting down the LC sales to the civilians, and that Federal was looking into closing down the LC plant all-together. Well, guess my info source was wrong.

 

[MudRunner2005]

why anyone would want to blow up a game animal to that extent totally escapes me.

Dead is dead, you don't need 10lbs of wasted meat and a hole you can throw a basketball through to get the job done.

exactly!!!

 

[Jluck]

Why anyone would want to blow up a game animal to that extent totally escapes me.

Dead is dead, you don't need 10lbs of wasted meat and a hole you can throw a basketball through to get the job done.

Best post in here! I understand the frangible bullets for terminal performance at long range but I always thought a well retained bullet with minimal hydraulic shock and a quickly dispatched animal was the goal, It is mine.

FWIW, I killed a small Muley buck at 567 yards last year, Using 168 Berger VLD's in my 7 Remington mag **** near blew animal in two. Shot was a little far back but not in guts still No tenderloins and almost no backstrap due to hydraulic shock. I was disgusted.

 

[WildRose]

Best post in here! I understand the frangible bullets for terminal performance at long range but I always thought a well retained bullet with minimal hydraulic shock and a quickly dispatched animal was the goal, It is mine.

FWIW, I killed a small Muley buck at 567 yards last year, Using 168 Berger VLD's in my 7 Remington mag **** near blew animal in two. Shot was a little far back but not in guts still No tenderloins and almost no backstrap due to hydraulic shock. I was disgusted.

I was just raised to never waste any meat, or at least no more than necessary.

There's a very fine line between punching a caliber sized hole through both sides with a bullet that doesn't expand and needing a shovel to scoop up the pieces which of course is why we have so many threads complaining about bullet performance LOL.

That's also why I just tend to stick with bullets I know will give good controlled expansion under most of the circumstances where I'll be shooting such as the Accubond, Interlock, Interbond, and Swift Sirocco.

If the exit is the size of a quarter to about 2-2.5" I'm happy.

 

[WildRose]

I was told they were shutting down the LC sales to the civilians, and that Federal was looking into closing down the LC plant all-together. Well, guess my info source was wrong.

I heard the same thing but then I bought a bunch of new production 556 a couple of months ago.

You can hear about anything on the internet... .

 

[MudRunner2005]

I heard the same thing but then I bought a bunch of new production 556 a couple of months ago.

You can hear about anything on the internet... .

Well, it wasn't on the web, it was from a friend of mine, who is pretty in-the-know and is in the industry, which is why I found it believable.

 

[captacademy]

Why anyone would want to blow up a game animal to that extent totally escapes me.

Dead is dead, you don't need 10lbs of wasted meat and a hole you can throw a basketball through to get the job done.

Because this bullet had never done this much damage before in other rifle calibers! It was not my intent to do this much damage, as it was the first time I used this load in the 7WSM. I think this is the exception, not the norm!

 

[WildRose]

Because this bullet had never done this much damage before in other rifle calibers! It was not my intent to do this much damage, as it was the first time I used this load in the 7WSM. I think this is the exception, not the norm!

From what I've seen of this bullet in the 30 cals and smaller it's the norm which is why I will not use it or recommend it on any kind of game animal.

I do consider to to be a devastating predator and varmint round though and have no problem shooting or recommending it for them.

 

[captacademy]

From what I've seen of this bullet in the 30 cals and smaller it's the norm which is why I will not use it or recommend it on any kind of game animal.

I do consider to to be a devastating predator and varmint round though and have no problem shooting or recommending it for them.

That I don't know to be totally true on the animals I have taken with it. Below are two more antelope harvested, one with the 140 A Max, 260, first and third photo (head shot) . The 2nd photo is with the 162 A Max in 7mm, it's just a small hole behind the shoulder@ about 150 yards. The head shot, 1st and 3rd photo's, went clear through the eye @ about 375, very little damage, as you can clearly see, no pun intended!

So, it's not the norm on the animals I have taken with the A-Max. However, they were all DRT. Maybe your kills produced different results, but not mine. I could see the .30 cal A Max being very devasting!

 

[Michael Eichele]

It hasn't been the norm for me either. I've never seen a hole like what was in that antelope with any bullet let alone amaxs. We've shot deer through the high shoulders, sheep through the shoulders, hit moose in the neck bones and we've never seen more than a 3" exit and the was that had a 3" exit was fired from a 300 rum. Usually it's a 1" to 2" exit even when bones are involved. Granted these are all based on lighter game such as deer, sheep and antelope. I still wouldn't recommend them for moose or mature bull elk but for caribou heck yes.

 

[Engineering101]

I could kill a caribou with my 357 mag loaded with lead bullets. That doesn't make it a good choice. Hornady says the AMAX is not recommended for hunting. However, they do make a bunch of other bullets that they recommend for hunting. It makes no sense to me to use a bullet that the manufacturer indicates is not preferred for the purpose. I shoot AMAXs a lot for practice. They are accurate and cheap. I would not use them for hunting. For that give me an Accubond or a Barnes TTSX. I'd even take a Sierra Game King over the AMAX.

 

[Michael Eichele]

They're popular here because they expand at very low velocity. Something the Barnes, partition, accubonds, inter bonds etc...simply cannot do. For the average hunters this makes little to no difference. Since this is a long range hunting community, having a bullet that expands at 1200'sec makes a lot of sense. It sounds like the new ALR might solve the problem since they expand on the low velocity side. So far my problem with them is availability.

 

[WildRose]

That I don't know to be totally true on the animals I have taken with it. Below are two more antelope harvested, one with the 140 A Max, 260, first and third photo (head shot) . The 2nd photo is with the 162 A Max in 7mm, it's just a small hole behind the shoulder@ about 150 yards. The head shot, 1st and 3rd photo's, went clear through the eye @ about 375, very little damage, as you can clearly see, no pun intended!

So, it's not the norm on the animals I have taken with the A-Max. However, they were all DRT. Maybe your kills produced different results, but not mine. I could see the .30 cal A Max being very devasting!

Norm's of course are not absolutes. The norm for me was fist size or larger exit holes nearly every time and some of them quite a bit larger than fist size.

I think the biggest issue with them is whether or not you strike hard thick bones like the shoulder and/or spine which is generally always my aim-point on a broadside shot.

 

[WildRose]

They're popular here because they expand at very low velocity. Something the Barnes, partition, accubonds, inter bonds etc...simply cannot do. For the average hunters this makes little to no difference. Since this is a long range hunting community, having a bullet that expands at 1200'sec makes a lot of sense. It sounds like the new ALR might solve the problem since they expand on the low velocity side. So far my problem with them is availability.

Yep, they will open up reliably at speeds much lower than others will. I just find them to be too explosive at high velocity.